India’s Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has been conducting interviews with top executives from at least 10 major international airlines as part of an ongoing probe into suspected tax evasion.
This evasion involves substantial amounts, reportedly in the hundreds of crores, associated with expenses logged by these airlines for their operations in India at their overseas headquarters.
Key financial officers from several airlines, including British Airways, Etihad, Thai Airways, and Qatar Airways, have given their statements to the DGGI.
These officials are in charge of handling accounting and tax compliance for their respective companies’ Indian operations.
Notable airlines that have yet to respond to the DGGI’s summons are Lufthansa, Emirates, Oman Airlines, and Singapore Airlines.
Some, like Emirates, have received new dates for their appearance, while others have requested additional time to collect the necessary information from their main offices.
Sources informed TOI that Singapore Airlines has not yet responded to the summons, which has been outstanding for several months. The airline has been instructed to provide records of expenses related to its operations in India.
In October, DGGI conducted a series of raids on the Indian offices of several foreign airlines to determine their tax liabilities. Following these actions, the airlines have sought new deadlines to submit the requested information from their international headquarters.
DGGI is asking these airlines to present documentation of all expenditures recorded by the carriers concerning their Indian operations. This may include costs related to aircraft leasing, crew, and ground staff expenses, fuel for airlines, and any other maintenance or repair expenditures.
